AUGUST 1996 ----------------------------In this issue------------------------------------------ Rubin's Corner: Broadway Renaissance CyberTheatre Monthly: Dramaturgy and the Internet Voices in Contemporary Theatre: Revisiting Yesterday's Music TRE Trivia, What's New in the Forum, Gossip du jour ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Rubin's Corner by Robert Rubin Broadway Renaissance Once upon a time and not all that long ago, Broadway was the heartbeat of New York City, a place where New Yorkers gathered for evenings of theatre and dining. But, by the late 1970s, the lights had dimmed on the Great White Way, and the "crossroads of the world" were unappealing. Now, however Broadway and the surrounding area that make up the theatre district is returning to its golden day. Visitors can see the metamorphosis of the area and learn about its history at the Times Square Visitor and Information Center. In addition to the theatre, the visitor to this district can now take their entire family to a host of special attractions. Some of the latest sights and sounds to come to the Broadway area are as follows * The first brewery to serve Times Square beer has opened. It is called Hansens Times Square Brewery. * The new Victory Theatre is the first historical theatre to be renovated on 42nd Street. It is the only theater in the city devoted exclusively to performances for young people. * The Official All-Star Café, owned by several sports celebrities including Shaquille O'Neal, Monica Seles and Wayne Gretsky, opened on 45th Street and Broadway. * David Copperfield's Magic Underground, a restaurant with hands-on- interactive magic performances created by the famed illusionist is scheduled to open underneath Times Square in December. * Plans are under way for more theme restaurants including Marvel Comics and Caroline's Comedy Club. * Virtual Reality Showcase is scheduled to open in December, and will offer visitors an interactive playground and theatre. * Walt Disney which opened its first Manhattan store last month on 57th Street, is planning to launch another mega-store of merchandise in Times Square in November. The store is next to a theater that is being renovated for Disney stage productions. * Madame Tusaud's wax museum and AMC 25-screen movieplex will reclaim the southern side of 42nd Street. * E-Walk, an entertainment and retail complex will open on the north side of W. 42nd Street. Construction by developer Tishman Urban Development Corporation has began. Tishman is also building a hotel between 42nd and 43rd Street on Eight Avenue. There are some many changes in the area that now families will be able to return to the theater district and one again attend the theater. This is going to help the many new productions scheduled for the fall season. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Gossip du jour... * Caustic Off-Broadway wit Nicky Silver (Pterodactyls, Food Chain) and the king of Mainstream choreography Tommy Tune will collaborate on a musical version of Archie Comics. * Despite respectable reviews, and a flurry of excitement among her online fans in Playbill's Diva-Watch, Master Class has taken up near permanent residence at the half-price TKTS booth since Patti LuPone's arrival, and its days are numbered. * Betty Buckley has been taking frequent nights off in her last weeks in Sunset Blvd - and the audience reaction bodes ill for the show's future when Elaine Paige takes over the show. * Donna Murphy took a tumble in "Shall We Dance" last week ("Shall we try it again") which the audience accepted as a nice twist on the staging - unfortunately the twist seems to be in Ms. Murphy's ankle. * Hopes are high for the still-untitled Bob Fosse revue to come out of the Duke of York Theatre in Toronto - largely because of its recent track-record with musical jewels like the Chicago House of Martin Guerre and Ragtime. * Finally, magic bad-boy Penn Gilette of Penn & Teller is returning to the New York stage - this time as a playwright. His new play , Recreation, involves the perverse Walter-Mittyesque fantasies of a strip-club patron, may remind some P&T fans of an article of Penn's in Cruel Tricks for Dear Friends entitled "The Time I Felt Famous". * Forbidden Broadway Volume IV - It could happen, fresh from the very disappointing Forbidden Hollywood, the great stage satirists of Gerard Alessandrini and his company may treat us to a new romp through Bring in da' Rent with Julie Andrews & David Merrick. I'm ordering my tickets now. * Michael Eisner will announce Disney's new project - Disney doesn't usually make the artistically-savvy choice, so the likely winner is The Lion King, but the internal lobbying for Tim Rice's King David was apparently quite bloody. We'll find out Monday * Jekyll & Hyde may be back on track - its new director has reportedly trimmed down and re-written the disastrously ill-conceived version which toured last year - pleasing some audiences but drawing unanimous (and justified) critical contempt. Better still, the rework will fit into a smaller theatre - which are a bit easier to come by. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ CyberTheatre Monthly Dramaturgy and the Internet by Caprice Woosley It was bound to happen: Sooner or later the breed of theater workers, known as dramaturgs, would get computers and hook into the vast information data banks in cyberspace. These theatrical researchers would suddenly have at their fingertips every scrape of information available in Pinter, Shakespeare, and Aristophanes. Or would they? Before answering that questions, let's begin by defining the role of a dramaturg. When asked to define the basics of dramaturgy, the functions of a dramaturg. and the training required for the job, Joseph M. Salvatore, a dramaturg and literary manager, replied, "You have asked the three most difficult questions to answer in the American theater world. It's like the riddle of the Sphinx when talking about what dramaturgs actually do." Salvatore went on to explain how, depending on the production and the needs of the company, a dramaturg might research the history of a particular play, gather information on the playwright, and find facts about the time period of the play. Dramaturgs might also work in translations and adaptations of plays, serve as in-house critics, and assist with readings and selection of new plays. The Alley Theater of Houston, Texas and winner of a special 1996 Tony Award for outstanding achievement by a regional theater has a dramaturg on staff. Travis Mader not only acts as their dramaturg but also as their literary manager . When asked about his specific job duties at the theater, he listed his functions as: 1. researching plays that have been selected for productions. 2. reading new plays forwarded to theaters by playwrights' agents 3. and choosing the seasons of plays. 4. providing aid in developing new approaches to works. 5. serving as a link with the audience, i.e. program text and 6. newsletters that illuminate the chosen pieces. 7. serving as an advocate for theater through symposia and readings. The dramaturg is not born overnight. This specialized field requires much academic training. According to Mr. Salvatore, "In terms of training, dramaturgs often have an MFA in dramaturgy from a fine arts graduate program. The can also have a Ph.D. in theater history and criticism." Mr. Mader concurs and adds, ". . . dramaturgs should be familiar with how a play is built and how it functions." He further observes that dramaturgs, ". . . should also be sympathetic to the art of acting and should understand the techniques of directing." In short, the role of the dramaturg in one of many hats. They must comprehend how all the aspects of theater work together. So, the dramaturg sits down at the computer and begins a search on the Internet. The screen fills with vast (and sometimes not so vast) sites containing information. The dramaturg, after searching good and bad sights now is suffering from an aching wrist and red eyes. Apparently not all the information fish caught in this "net" are worth keeping. The biggest complaint among most dramaturgs is that many hours are spent searching useless sites in order to find the good ones. Jennifer Mackerras, a Ph. D. student at the University of Bristol, found this to be true. She stated that: "In order to obtain any significant amount of material from the Internet, it is necessary to spend an enormous amount of time at the computer, using different search engines and following links. I can't help but think that the time could often be better spent looking at the play in question, using the more traditional resources when necessary, and relying more on one's own intellect." Several of her peers agree with that assessment. Paul Martin Ledoux states, "Time wasted rabbiting around in useless areas is probably the biggest drawback, but the advantages in terms of broader contacts and quick access are greater." Jefferson Lindquist, of the Virginia Stage Company in Norfolk, Virginia found that sometimes the old ways are the best ways. "The only drawback so far is the amount of information available. The library is still the best bet and takes about the same amount of time to browse," he commented. Yet even with the inherent problems of bad sites or sites that no longer exist, or the amount of time it takes to access some of the sights, all the dramaturgs contacted agree that the Internet is very helpful and each of them use it to some degree. Comments ranged from, ". . . it's my first stop when I start on work on a production." to ". . . found the Internet very helpful and plan on using it as much as possible." Winston Neutel, whose work includes a translation of Jean-Rock Gaudreault's La Raccourcie soon to be given a reading at the 78th Street Theatre Lab in September, offers some observations on using the Internet for dramaturgical research. "The first is that it is much easier to find resources for classical plays (i.e. those in public domain) than contemporary," he reported. That seems to be the case. There are many web sites of the Shakespearean plays and the ancient works. Some even exist for Ibsen and other "classic" playwrights. Neutel further observes " . . .secondly, while there are some good sources of information on some topics, the Internet is at this point more useful for finding tools for dramaturgical work that the information one might otherwise find in the library." Bibliographies of books are easily found on the Internet and with those titles in hand, dramaturgs can go a local library and find the printed books containing the information they seek. Neutel also liked the fact that he could download classic texts from the Internet and do analysis of the text and even find out the number of lines a character had, how long the character was on stage, enabling him to develop time-lines to mark entrances and exits of characters. Neutel also pointed out the future that dramaturgs could have in developing the Internet as a research tool. His call to arms is to summon dramaturgs to explore this new horizon and expand its role in the theater. He says: "I think that at this point, dramaturgs are in nearly the best position to contribute theatre-related resources to the Internet, and as that ball gets rolling, dramaturgs will also find the information on the Internet more useful to them. A number of dramaturgs are starting to realize that the research a dramaturg does for a production is just a web site waiting to happen." Now that the dramaturgs have spoken about the pros and cons of the Internet, it is time to turn to their own private sources of information. Where do these denizens of dark, dusty libraries and Internet hallways go for information? What search engines do they use to collect information? The search engines used most by the dramaturgs polled included Alta Vista, Yahoo!, Lycos, Open Text, Lycos, Webcrawler, and InfoNet. Alta Vista was useful but sometimes gave too large a range of information. Open Text gives more options for limiting searches. Yahoo! yields sites that are closer to the topic searched. Among the favorite sites used by the dramaturgs are: 1. T heatre-Central (http://www.theatre-central.com) seems to be a majority favorite. 2. The Playwright's Union of Canada (http://www.puc.ca). This has a searchable database of about 1500 playwrights and plays. 3. CultureNet (http://www.culturenet.ca) for more information on the Canadian art and cultural scene 4. Playbill Online (http://wheat.symgrp.com/playbill/html/home.html) Jennifer Mackerras has her own web page containing her favorite links and invites you to visit it at http://metz.une.edu.au~jmackerr for more information . Jefferson Lindquist also states that there are many of the USENET groups on theater that are fun to read. There is one other very good resource on the Internet for dramaturgical information, Winston Neutel added . ". . . the best Internet resources for dramaturgs is actually personal e-mail. Often it is the ideas in a person's mind rather than the information they've put on their web site that is most useful." He finds that, "E-mail lets you discuss the play with people you might not otherwise be able to reach." As you can see, the Internet and the dramaturg may be a match made in theater heaven if improvements can be made. If the information can be retrieved faster and with less time spent on useless sites and if the dramaturgs will start posting their own information for others to use, there can be a wonderful melding of the two seeming unrelated worlds. Whether you are a professional dramaturg, or an amateur theater sleuth, the Internet can provide useful information about your favorite plays or professional productions. Theatre reviews, character analyses, play synopses are all available over the computer. Dig in and become a bit of a dramaturg. Look at theater from their vantage point and discover what else is out there waiting for the theatre-goer to find. Caprice Woosley is currently pursuing her BFA in theater (directing and playwriting), after 25 years working in and around community theater. She is a playwright, produced but not published, actress, and amateur dramaturg who enjoys researching plays. She is a host in the Writing Forum where she co-hosts a Writing Discussion Group. She is also currently hosting "Shakespeare Unplugged" in the Theatre Forum. Web sites mentioned in this edition of CyberTheatre Monthly: http://www.theatre-central.com http://www.puc.ca http://www.culturenet.ca http://www.playbill.com http://metz.une.edu.au~jmackerr http://www.tstradio.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Voices Revisiting Yesterday's Music - The Good, The Bad, and the Melodically Challenged A Stephen Schwartz revue? In the immortal words of Heidi Holland: Oh, Puh-lease. But that is what the Westport County Players and Virginia Stage Company are planning for us in Snapshots, "A combination of revue, book musical and memory piece. It will include songs from his shows and movies, plus several new ones written specifically for this production." Let's think about this - This is the man who took the angry, resonant invective from Studs Terkel's Working interviews and crafted them into such timeless classics as See That Building. Who took the embittered but eloquent despair of Ashman's Mob Song ("We don't like what we don't understand, in fact it scares us") and regurgitated it back in Pocahontas as the simple-minded Savages. I can't think of a single Schwartz opus I would care to re-live except possibly for Pippin - and I'd rather just watch a revival of that show than an entire revue of songs that evoked grimaces the first time around. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the news that Dodger Productions plan to revive Frank Loesser's Hans Christian Anderson is far more promising. The score, which consists of such well-known classics as Inch Worm, The Ugly Duckling, Thumbellina, Wonderful Copenhagen, Anywhere I Wander, No Two People, and of course, Hans Christen Andersen, is known to most Americans only from the 1952 film. The film suffers from a dredful Moss Hart book, and stars Danny Kaye - who is not to the taste of most '90s audiences. Dodger has had great success translating other Loesser shows: Guys and Dolls and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, to the contemporary stage, so hopes are high that the new book for HCA will measure up. Of course the contemporary audience that's thrilled to Stephen Sondheim's latter-day tours-de-force: Sunday in the Park with George, Into the Woods, Assassins, and Passion - needed little encouragement to revisit his earlier efforts - and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum is truly the most revived of the current revivals - having brought this ingenius marriage of manic music and classical farce to an entirely new audience that was left cold by the insipid Zero Mostel movie and fumbling community theatre productions. This current epidemic of revue and revival fever may have begun with the success a few years ago of the Rodger and Hammerstein revue A Grand Night For Singing - firmly founded on the principle that a generation that swoons at Music of the Night would be devastated by the sublime and haunting beauty of This Nearly Was Mine. It presented the most enduring songs from the golden age of Broadway in a startling and fresh context. This is a glorious boon for those of us in the audience, but a warning to the would-be king-makers - not every composer of the golden age has decades of musical poetry to draw on that a Loesser or Rodgers enjoy. They should be resussitated with care, and sometimes they should be left to rest in peace. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ TRE Trivia: * What character (and her entourage) appear in both a Rodgers and Hammerstein and a Stephen Sondheim musical? * Big River is based on what Mark Twain novel? * Who was the first actor? * In what musical did Mandy Patinkin make his Broadway Debut? Who were his co-stars? * The character is Trent, the quote is: "Rich people do something nice for you, you give them a pot of jam" - Play, and Playwright, please. * What Shakespeare play is enacted four times in The Compleat Works of Wllm Shkspr (abridged)? What is unusual about the last run-through? Answers to last month's trivia: The movie came first: Singin' in the Rain, Grand Hotel, Victor/Victoria, The Phantom of the Opera, La Cage Aux Folles, The stage-version came first: Educating Rita, Inherit the Wind, The Heiress, Deathtrap, Sleuth, A Streetcar named Desire, Lost in Yonkers, The Rocky Horror Show ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ W H A T ' S N E W in the Theatre & Performance Forum New Reviews Forum Reviewer Robert Rubin is back from London and his reviews for Jeeves, Martin Guerre, A Little Night Music, and Riverdance now grace our library Shakespeare Unplugged Every Sunday in August a new Shakespeare play is unplugged by our special guest Caprice Woosley. Synopsis and Transcripts available in the Library. Spotlight on THEATRE TRAVEL Since its debut, the Theatre Travel Spotlight has fallen on Richmond, Philadelphia, Washington D.C. and now Connecticut - home to no less than 4 companies who've won Tonys for Outstanding Regional Theatre. If we haven't gotten to your favorite destination yet, ask, or better still - get us started by posting about a show or after-the-show nightspot. Rent made a SuperShow The Tony-Award winner for Best Musical now has its own folder in the SuperShows, Viva la Vie Boheme... The JOBS BANK Returns In addition to the audition links, there are listings of many non-acting theatre jobs, from Stage Managers to Executive Directors. Plus valuable Job Search resources, in the Jobs Bank. Back Issues Remember, you can always download back issues of TRE from the Forum Library. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Copyright 1996, Mersinger Theatrical Services